Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventures, I do not have any rights to Digimon Adventures and I do not make any money from writing these fics.
Written for the: Revisiting The Adventure Digimon S1 Watch-A-Thon Challenge, The Anime and Manga Diversity Writing Challenge, The Testing Your Patience Challenge, The One Word Boot Camp, The If You Dare Continued Challenge, The As Much As You Can Competition, The V-Day Advent Calendar Challenge, Remi's Toy Factory Challenge, Several DevArt Word Prompt Challenges.
Prompts: One shot collection of each one shot over 1,000 words, Write 7 chapters/one shots for this story before you start posting it, Write a one shot of exactly 1,100 words, write about Joe and Gomamon climbing the mountain, Write about someone showing an obsession, Use the prompt "It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you." Mark Twain, Wary, Ostrich, Can't, Just let it go, Smirking, Time.
Why?
"Why?" was the first words that came out of Gomamon's mouth after ten minutes of climbing the mountain in silence.
"Why what?" Joe asked while making sure to keep an eye on their path ahead.
"Why are you just a stick in the mud? No one is normally like that without a reason," Gomamon replied with a curious stare as he slowly made his way along the rocky path. "Why do you worry and panic all the time? Is it some sort of strange obsession you have? Like how those Black Gears are obsessed with causing Digimon to go insane?"
Gomamon watched in concern as his human partner's face shut down, this was not the Joe he knew. Worry flared inside of Gomamon only for a horrid mixture of guilt and curiosity to curdle in his stomach as he watched the emotions in Joe's eyes play out.
"I will never forget how he told me to just let it go while standing their smirking at me," Joe finally said, his voice just above a whisper with a wary look in his eyes. "I can't though, I just can't. Not when both of them hurt me so much."
Gomamon frowned in confusion. "Who hurt you Joe?"
"Let's just say that a school bully decided to do some pretty mean things and one of my...ex-friends decided to help them by telling me what the bully had done in the cruellest of manners," Joe said, stumbling slightly on the uneven path. "I just know that both the bully and my ex-friend knew what they were doing to me and the damage it would cause."
"So because of your school bully and an ex-friend you worry as much as an ostrich that sticks its head into the ground every few seconds?" Gomamon questioned as he tried to understand Joe. "Humans are so complicated."
"Not all humans are, some are simple and nice while others can be complex and mean," Joe replied as a dark look crossed over his face, surprising Gomamon. "There are nice people and then there are horrible people and...then there are people who fall into both of those categories."
"When you put it that way Humans sound a lot like Digimon," Gomamon said as they turned around a narrow corner. "But at least with Digimon you do not have of this strange behaviour going on."
"You and the others must of had it really good then, before you met us human's," Joe muttered to himself, feeling depressed as memories washed over him like a winter's bitter cold wind. "And now you get shoved into our complex worry filled lives."
"Aww, come on Joe, do not be like that," Gomamon said playfully as he offered Joe a supportive smile. "Even though bad things in the past has happened you cannot let them get you down. I do not fully understand everything as Digimon never have to worry about these sorts of things but even if you cannot 'just let it go' do you think you could just try to relax sometimes? Maybe try not worrying over one tiny thing a day? Or how about you try to-"
"Alright Gomamon, I get your point," Joe said in frustration as he gave his Digimon partner a pointed look. "I promise that when it is possible I will try to 'lighten up' but at the moment I cannot!"
"Why not?" Gomamon asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "It would do you a lot of good Joe!"
"Because as the oldest one in the group I have to be responsible for everyone," Joe said, finally allowing his feelings to come flowing out like a frozen waterfall in spring. "Have you seen how everyone has been acting? I need to be the voice of reason! I have to think of all the possible risks in everything first. Everyone else is just charging straight ahead into situations without thinking...just like..."
"Just like that day with that bully and ex-friend of yours?" Gomamon asked as he finished off Joe's sentence. "Joe...I understand how you feel but with all of your worrying you could do some serious harm to yourself. How about just relax? You do not have to do any of this 'just let it go' or 'put it behind you' stuff, I am just asking if you could relax once in a while."
Gomamon watched and waited as the emotions played out across his human's face. Gomamon found himself worrying about if he had broken his human, after all everyone had their breaking point. Maybe this was Joe's breaking point?
"Fine, I will think about it and try to take things differently," Joe said finally with a huff as they climbed a steep part of the mountain, much to Gomamon's happiness. "But I will only start to do so when we know we are safe and how to get home and what is dangerous and what is not. We are in a whole new world with only you Digimon to guide us...we are so far away from home and everything is different."
"Thank you Joe, it is a start and that is good enough for me," Gomamon said with a happy smile, glad that he seemed to of gotten some sort of sense into his human partner. "How about you start by telling me a joke? Or a funny story? OH! Or how about a-"
"Thank you Gomamon," Joe said suddenly, cutting Gomamon off, a large smile appearing on his face. "You...you are the first one to truly worry about me as a person, you are not like anyone else who is always telling me to look after others and to grow up...thank you for worrying about me."
Gomamon blushed. "Awww, it is alright Joe. I will always have your back. We are friends and partners after all."
"Still, you are a better friend to me Gomamon compared to my friends before I met you and the others," Joe all but whispered with a true smile on his face. "Thank you, thank you for showing me that there are people, or at least Digimon, out there who still care about me. I had all but forgotten, what with my elder brothers and my parents consent lectures...thank you Gomamon."
"Your brothers and parents do not sound very nice, as a Digimon who hatched from an egg I never knew my parents but no one should be horrible to you Joe," Gomamon said with a frown. "But do not worry Joe, I will protect you from them and make sure you always have a reason to smile!"
End Of One Shot.
For some reason this one shot was really hard to write, it was as if it wanted to be written yet it did not want to be written.
